From the makers of Academy Award-winning film POOR THINGS and BAFTA Award-winning series Normal People, The Listeners is the latest standout series from our colleagues at Element Pictures.
Enigmatic, provocative and haunting, The Listeners explores the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times.
Based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Canadian novelist, playwright, filmmaker, and director, Jordan Tannahill, the idea of a TV adaptation blossomed after a BBC book scout secured a copy of the bestseller. Originally destined for the stage, having been developed for a time with London’s National Theatre, it took many years for Tannahill to find “the right vehicle” to tell the story. But the idea was always a no-brainer.
"When we read Jordan's extraordinary book we were floored by his storytelling and by Claire as a character; THE LISTENERS taps into something vital, a fable for the unease of our times.” - Chelsea Hoffmann, Executive Producer, Element Pictures
Inspired by mysterious real-life events across the globe, most notably in Bristol, UK, and in Ontario, Canada, where multiple residents reported hum-like reverberations that rattled their windowpanes – sometimes even causing nosebleeds, headaches, and insomnia. Tannahill was intrigued by the mystery and the people at the heart of it, “It spoke to the malleability of truth of people having these different subjective experiences of reality. People were being told to dismiss their own bodily experiences, which is something that women particularly, historically, have been subjected to”. As he delved deeper into the struggles faced by those who could hear the ominous hum, Tannahill began to think about a “fictional scenario of a woman who begins to hear this noise and her family doesn't”. And from here, The Listeners was born.
From the outset, the novelist knew exactly who he wanted to work with, “right from the beginning I said my dream company would be Element Pictures. At the time, they were having enormous success with Normal People. What really appealed to me was the very sensitive, nuanced, careful way in which they were working with Sally [Rooney] to adapt her novel for the screen”. Element Pictures executive producers, Rachel Dargavel and Chelsea Hoffmann recall being approached to work on the project, “When we read Jordan's extraordinary book we were floored by his storytelling and by Claire as a character; THE LISTENERS taps into something vital, a fable for the unease of our times.”
“A truly great piece of television” - iNews
Tannahill also had his sights set on acclaimed writer and director, Janicza Bravo, who was “an absolute dream director for me, truly my first choice. I thought, wow, I want that energy, that vitality, that vision, on this project”. And Rebecca Hall being cast as the protagonist? “I can't imagine a different Claire”, he says. Bravo was keen to board the project for many reasons: One, it was the “polar opposite” to anything she had previously worked on; two, “it felt very elegant, like it had this braid through it that felt adult and mature in a way that I had not traversed before”. Dargavel and Hoffmann echo Tannahill’s praise for Bravo and Hall, adding “We were thrilled to bring visionary Janicza Bravo on board to direct, knowing she would create an elevated and fresh series for our screens. Rebecca Hall absolutely stuns with her portrayal of Claire - a singular performance that captures a universal feeling.”
Gayle Rankin – who plays Jo, “a stereotypical wellness swan” and co-leader of ‘the hum’ support group – recalls how she was “set on fire by the idea of working with someone [Tannahill] who works across genres so beautifully and elegantly. The script was so fascinating and complex. There's something a little Macbeth about it.”
With BAFTA and Academy Award-winning production company Element Pictures and an all-star cast and crew attached – including BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and director Rebecca Hall (Christine, The Town, Passing); writer and director Janicza Bravo (Zola, Mrs America); actor and Tony-Award nominee Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman, Cabaret); Grammy-nominated musician and composer Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange, We Are Who We Are); and renowned cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes – Tannahill felt like he had “hit the jackpot”.
“We were thrilled to bring visionary Janicza Bravo on board to direct, knowing she would create an elevated and fresh series for our screens. Rebecca Hall absolutely stuns with her portrayal of Claire - a singular performance that captures a universal feeling." - Rachel Dargavel, Executive Producer, Element Pictures
Swapping Stateside for the UK, the captivating TV adaptation centres around Claire (Rebecca Hall), a teacher who begins to hear a low humming sound that her family, friends and colleagues cannot. As a result, Claire feels increasingly isolated. With no one to turn to, she develops an unexpected relationship with one of her students (Ollie West), who can also hear the ominous hum. When reading the initial script, Hall was “struck by how completely of the moment it felt”, adding that “living in this algorithmically moderated media environment” means that we are all isolated; The Listeners “articulates how fragile all our realities are”.
Rankin brings the notion of cultism into the fold, explaining how the word ‘cult’ is “thematically something we're definitely discussing. It’s a dirty word, which I have questions about. Especially in our current political climate”. Referring to the unprecedented rise in conspiracy culture in the real world, Hall argues that the series is a “compassionate take on it. There’s no good guys and bad guys. The whole point is that she’s not crazy”.
Tannahill himself was “fascinated by conspiracy culture” and opted for a “human scaled approach” when carving out the themes in the novel – “QAnon, 5G conspiracies and vaccine conspiracies” would all prove to be invaluable source materials for his work.
“Hall is excellent as a woman on a knife-edge between a spiritual breakthrough and a nervous breakdown” - Financial Times
Among the themes of isolation, loneliness and conspiracy, exists a thread that ties the three topics together, which, according to Hall, is “how belief is formed in isolation”. In addition to researching conspiracy theories, Tannahill was committed to investigating the human “capacity for belief”, how these beliefs are created and how they can affect families and communities. Another theme at the series’ core is “how women aren’t believed when it comes to matters of their own body and health.” says Hall, but ultimately, the series “touches on a lot of things that will strike a chord with people”.
Filmed in Manchester, Bravo felt “lucky” to have been able to shoot on 35mm film, stating “there's this real romance to the way the palette can look there [Manchester]. Green is so green”. Beguiled by the British landscape, having come from the US, Bravo describes herself and DOP Jody Lee Lipes as “turned on by the environment. It was so new to us, and getting to shoot on film made it feel a bit like we were making a time capsule”. Bravo finds the modern world to be “noisy and crowded” containing too much “visual crowdedness”; the ability to use analog film allowed “a sheen of nostalgia” to be cast over the series, using space, colour and texture to further amplify the overwhelming solitude.
“A primetime mystery with an ear for the profound” - The Sunday Times
When it comes to references, Bravo knows her stuff. Spanning Todd Haynes’ Saved, Cassavetes’ Within the Influence, and even the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, it’s no wonder the series visuals are so wonderfully bold. Images from British photographers Jamie Hawkesworth Rob Clayton were pivotal to Bravo’s vision, “there was all this life and colour, and it wasn't a perception that I'd had of England really, because I had imagined it to be more pale. We wanted the colours to be incredibly joyous, so that the information inside it was perpendicular to what we were watching”. She does just that.
Bravo is a force whose creative prowess is felt deeply by everyone she works with. “She's an auteur, a visionary. I would honestly follow Janicza [Bravo] anywhere.” confesses Rankin. Hall utters words to the same effect, exclaiming “there are very few directors that I have worked with that have her unwillingness to pass up on any fight. She dies on every single hill and it is beautiful to watch. She [Bravo] understands that detail and style are a huge part of having any vision as a director; I would happily work with her for the rest of my life. She is brilliant, and everyone felt that”.
The collaboration was a “pretty blessed artistic experience” for Tannahill, who, as someone who was adapting his work for the first time for TV, “couldn't ask for a more extraordinary team”.
"A thoughtful, thought-provoking drama put together with surpassing care and delicacy" - The Guardian
For Bravo, the collaboration was nothing short of true creative treat, “from the offset, there was a desire for me to really be a part of how the rest of the narrative would unfold” and in working closely with Element Pictures and Tannahill “felt very much involved in not only the foundational, but in what was happening, how we could pivot in the moment and shape shift and work with our environment”. Element Pictures’ Dargavel and Hoffmann similarly recall the extremely affecting nature of this project, saying “The entire cast and crew have made this a series we are very proud of - and one we think reflects the experience of so many who have found themselves on a path they weren't expecting.”
The creative experience was equally poignant for Hall, “Sometimes it just all really works. Sometimes you do really strike gold”, who praises Element Pictures for consistently “championing people who have vision and who think outside the box. They are willing to make things that are nuanced and challenging. And thank god for that, because we really need it”.
The Listeners launched 19th November on BBC One and iPlayer.
